That seems to be the way the press is portraying the video below. The video was released in conjunction with an article published in the American Journal of Primatology (the article can also be found here)

The article details the reaction of a female chimp to the death of her offspring. Female chimps have been known to carry their dead infants for a day or so before starting to abandon them. I say starting because their is, apparently a transition period between carrying the infant and final abandonment. The Cronin et al paper – and the video above – documents this transition period. One of the interesting points brought out in the paper is that this infant directed behavior occurs, obviously, without cues or reciprocity of behavior by the infant. The paper concludes with the following:

The behaviors expressed by this female chimpanzee when she first endures physical separation from her dead infant provide valuable insight into how chimpanzees respond to the premature severing of the mother–infant bond, the maternal contribution to this bond, and the possible ways in which chimpanzees gather information about the state of responsiveness of individuals around them (hence learning about ‘‘death’’).

3 Responses

Wow, that video brought tears to my eyes. I knew that chimpanzees and Western Lowland gorillas mourn the dead, because it is one of the things that contributes to the spread of ebola, but witnessing it is a completely different matter. When chimps or gorillas find a dead individual of their species, they go inspect it and mourn it, which facilitates the spread of the virus.

Blogroll

"You may not be willing to admit that you resemble an ape; if your thousandth ancestor is more like an ape than you are, you may, if you wish, call it a coincidence. But if that thousandth ancestor's forebears become progressively more simian as you trace back the geneological lines, you will have to admit that somewhere in your family tree there squats an ape." Earnest Hooten

Charles Darwin

"But I had gradually come, by this time, to see that the Old Testament from its manifestly false history of the world, with the Tower of Babel, the rainbow at sign, etc., etc., and from its attributing to God the feelings of a revengeful tyrant, was no more to be trusted than the sacred books of the Hindoos, or the beliefs of any barbarian." Charles Darwin: The Autobiography